Your 'Biological Age' Can Now be Read in a Drop of Blood

Biological Age Estimated – Simple Blood Test

Biological age can now be estimated by a simple blood test which unlike chronological age, considers how the body tends to develop or break down, when compared to the average. Getting information on these could be helpful in identifying the risk of age related disease like dementia in a person.

Researchers at King’s College London stated that they could create a story of biological age with a simple test by compiling a profile of the genes needed for `healthy ageing’ in individuals of 65 years old, thereby providing help earlier in cases of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Professor Jamie Timmons believes that `given the biological complexity of the ageing process, till now there has been no reliable way of measuring how well a person tends to age when compared with their peers’. The test process took seven years to develop, with the use of a process known as RNA- profiling and views 150 genes which are activated in healthy 65 year olds in the blood, muscle and brain. ProfessorTimmons informed BBC that `from the age of 40 onwards one could use this to provide guidance on how well an individual tends to age’.

Test With Great Potentials

The findings however did not show a relationship between biological age and healthy lifestyle options and the biological age seemed to be independent of disorders like the heart diseases and diabetes. Researchers are speculating that the biological age could be utilised in decreasing the risks of diseases connected with ageing for which prevention therapies are being established.

Dr Neha Issar-Brown, Programme Manager for population health sciences at the Medical Research Council, which funded the study published in Genome Biology commented that `while it is natural for our bodies and brains to slow down in the process of ageing, premature ageing and the more severe loss of physical as well as cognitive function could have devastating consequences for the individual and their families and impact more extensively on society and the economy. The new test has great potentials as with further research, it could help in improving the development and evaluation treatment that prolong a good health in older age’.

Evaluate Anti-Ageing Treatments

Blood test which can show diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer and disease histories are in the development stage. However this test could also be utilised for donor matching in the organ transplant of older person and in evaluating anti-ageing treatments.

Researchers however have been unable in improving or altering an individual’s biological age. Professor Timmons informs that they now need to find out more about why these differences in ageing takes place, hoping that the test could be utilised in reducing the risk of developing diseases linked with age’. Charities have stated that any test which could spot Alzheimer’s early stage was critical to stopping the disease.

Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Society has commented saying that `given the need for early intervention, several of the prevailing drugs in development for Alzheimer’s are tested in the earliest stages of the disease and at times before the symptoms begin’. With additional progress in this research, it would be helpful to find new treatment for the condition of identifying people who seem to be more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and participate in clinical trials.